BAE says aim is for international partners to join UK fighter project in 2019

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FARNBOROUGH, England, July 17 (Reuters) - The chief executive of BAE Systems said the aim was to bring in international partners to help develop Britain's new fighter jet by the end of 2019.

BAE showed off a model of the new warplane, Tempest, on Monday, linking up with a group of industrial partners to fulfil a government plan for the new combat jet which it said would need international partners to help develop.

Charles Woodburn, CEO of Britain's biggest defence company, said the plan was to bring those partners onboard by 2019.

When asked about the possibility of the UK project joining up with a rival Franco-German plan to build a new fighter jet, he said he believed the UK government was "open-minded" about who those international partners could be. (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Mark Potter)